


Racer

by cats_ey3



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 12:49:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14545119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cats_ey3/pseuds/cats_ey3
Summary: Changbin doesn't work his ass off at this animal rescue every day for some punk ass kid to be opening the cages every night





	1. Prologue

_The sun was beaming, pollen floating through the air like fairy dust. Reeds reached up as far as their knees as they sprinted through, laughter and yells cutting through the warm stillness. This was home to them, hot days shifting to cool evenings, crisp breezes running through shaggy hair._

_It was mid July when they proclaimed they’d finally reached their peak. The oldest, Minho, had planted his foot on a large rock, pointed to the ground, and declared their victory over summer, over life and the world itself._

_That, of course, was the day they’d found the puppy._

_It was tiny at the time, with no indication of having an owner. To a group of young boys that was permission enough. It was dehydrated, fur matted, eyes glued shut, but they’d carried it home carefully and put it in a shoebox that the Felix’s mother had let them borrow, full of tissue paper and cotton balls. In a week or two it was on its feet. It watched them run, resting its front paws up against the windowsill as they darted through the reeds. They could see in its eyes – it wanted to join them._

_In a month’s time they’d named it, Hyunjin had chosen: Racer, for obvious reasons. None of them could beat it, even from the beginning. They were quite positive that all of them had twisted an ankle trying._

_But they couldn’t say that was the only reason. The dog was still young but its heart was tenacious. Through sadness it sat by their side, any one of them. It fought off a snake once, just to protect them. When Hyunjin couldn’t sleep it lay on his chest, its heart beat stamping out the thoughts from his mind._

_‘Racer. I think its heart races for us.’_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i love stray kids a lot (p.s. this is just me attempting to live out my fantasy of seeing changbin surrounded by large dogs uwu)

‘SEO CHANGBIN!!!!!’

 

3 things occurred to Changbin as he woke abruptly on a dark Sunday morning. Number 1 was excruciating pain. As he’d sat up so suddenly his forehead had slammed into the hard cold ceiling of his room. He’d told his father at least fifty times that the damn loft bed was a bad idea, but then again, his father wasn’t the one getting ceiling bashed every morning. Number 2, the apartment smelt weird. Like, bad weird. Like, wet dog kind of bad weird. Number 3. His mother was mad.

 

She marched into his room, lips painted into a firm line. The sleeves of her shirt were rolled to the elbows, hair tied back in a tight bun. Her demeanour was unreadable but her eyes were a different story. If Changbin were so inclined to using that kind of language, he might have referred to them as “fiery pits of ‘Seo Changbin is completely fucked’ Hell”.

 

‘Changbin.’ Her voice had dropped an octave and decreased in volume but the cold hard rage was still very very real. And Changbin hadn’t even had a second to massage his forehead yet. ‘When you finish a shift, please remind me of the three things you are _required_ to do.’

 

‘Um..’ Changbin was afraid to look away from his mother. She was the sweetest person he knew but she could smell fear. ‘Refill the bowls…’

 

His mother nodded.

 

‘Check that Rudolph has eaten his sleeping medication.’

 

His mother nodded again.

 

‘And… um….’

 

Shit.

 

His mother blinked at him expectantly. There had to be something he was forgetting but what the hell was it??

 

‘Um… say bye to the cats??’

 

‘Changbin. I have spent my life entrusting you to maintain a level of respect for this business.’

 

Here it came. The speech. Every time Changbin fucked up, every time he put out the wrong birdseed or confused one spoodle with another he got the goddamn motherfucking SPEECH.

 

‘And I most certainly will NOT tolerate you endangering the creatures I have trusted you to preserve the lives of!!’

 

The difference this time though was that Changbin had no clue, none at all, what he’d actually done wrong. From memory, and he had a pretty good memory, the cats had been mostly asleep, the dogs content, no barking. He’d even double counted every bird! It had all been his usual brand of perfect.

 

‘I’m very disappointed in you, young man. To think you’d have the sheer negligence to leave the cages unlocked-‘

 

‘What?’ Changbin was dumbfounded. Never in his life would he do that. He kept the keys on a chain around his neck at all times during his shift. He always locked those cages. ‘I didn’t leave the cages unlocked. I’d never leave the cages unlocked.’

 

‘Oh really?’ His mother’s lips quivered at the defiance. ‘Would you care to get out of bed and explain this to me then?’

 

Changbin gulped, climbing out of bed slowly, careful not to hit his head again. What he saw wasn’t exactly favourable.

 

The house was a mess, dogs running everywhere. His mother insisted on keeping a generous number at a time, which was fine until reflected in a small space. The couch was in ribbons, the fridge raided, fur covering every ounce of the floor.

 

But Changbin swore he didn’t do it. He could never.

 

‘Mum I promise you this wasn’t my fault. Someone must have broken in-‘

 

‘What kind of fool would break into a shelter just to cause a nuisance, Changbin??? I wish you would just be honest with me-‘

 

‘I didn’t do it, Mum!’ Changbin was livid. He had to prove his innocence somehow… but how.

 

He gasped.

 

‘The tapes! We’ll pull up the tapes of last night and I’ll prove that this wasn’t my fault.’

 

His mother looked sceptical, but nodded.

 

\--

 

 

Of course, some kind of punishment had to be lain out first regardless, if only to ease his mother’s mind. After hours of guiding dog after dog back to the long staircase leading down to the shelter, preparing food for dog after dog, and then removing the suffocating fur of dog after dog from their home, he finally sat with his mother in front of the old computer, security tapes from the night before ready to play.

 

‘If you’ve been lying to me, Changbin,’ his mother said, tapping her foot on the ground as she stood behind him. ‘I’ll be highly disappointed in you.’

 

‘It should be a good day for both of us then, shouldn’t it Mum?’ That earned him a glare. But he started the tape anyway.

 

There he was, leading the dogs back into their cages for the night. Filling their bowls, scratching each behind the ear, serving any necessary medication. And he locked every cage, pulling on it for good measure.

 

He smiled to himself, content that he’d get a nice apology from his mother. Maybe she’d even buy him a new shirt since the one he wore now had been ruined by hours of cleaning dog off of their house.

 

But the tape was still rolling.

 

Another figure came in through the door, which Changbin could have sworn he’d locked. And clutched in this newcomer’s hands were Changbin’s keys.

 

Changbin’s jaw dropped.

 

The figure unlocked every cage, slowly and carefully, as if mocking them. Then he left, the door swinging.

 

His mother turned the tape off.


End file.
